Thursday, 18 July 2013

DIRTY HANDS UPDATE #2

Ministry of Urban Agriculture﻿

Update 1.3_2013

Expectations for growth have been exceeded in all areas. The weather appears to have been ideal for a garden explosion. Although this heady growth may sound all positive, there are some concerns over space. As seen in image 3A, the zucchini has overtaken a neighboring strawberry plant and is threatening to overcome the cauliflower as well. An emergency strategic cutting program has been enacted, culling some of the offending zucchini leaves.

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Image 3A - Crowding by the Zucchini

﻿ The second phase of the Dirty Hands Program, harvesting, has started. The first produce was cut by our eager students (see figure 3B & 3C). It was the 'spring mix' lettuce, specifically a mix of baby romaine, red oak, green oak, and some other green stuff. ﻿

Figure 3C

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Figure 3B

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ The eight cups of lettuce accounted for approx 1% of the PUTP's yearly food consumption. This is one of the first of many many many steps towards the goal of being self sustaining. The greens were used to make the flavourful local tuna/lemon/olive/cucumber/mozza/salt/pepper salad (see figure 3C)